Last year I felt that Houston was building something, but were not good enough.
I’m still not in love with Bosh/Howard.
But I cannot lie. If they somehow get Deng, and can find a way to fortify the bench a little more…they become SCARY good. Having Deng and Bosh there who should both be able to put up 15 a night each while bringing good defense - Deng being able ot cover for James “Which way did he go?” Harden, just smells scary. They would have a starting 5 that should average 75 EASY with a real good +/- ratio.
That’s a REAL scary scenerio for the West.
SAS is returning as they were…
Clippers are looking to come back stronger, though they still need to find the ‘right’ wings…PS - Paul aint the answer
Portland just got bigger and a little deeper still need more depth
Houston would become juggernauts…
That’s just a scary top heavy conference. OKC is taking a step back, Grizz are taking a step back, LAL doesn’t look to land anyone meaning ful, Golden State will most likely take a step back assuming they don’t get Love…but the top of the conference is going to be SCARY.
The East is just getting weaker and weaker though. It doesn’t look right now like the wiz will retain Ariza hope so, good deal on the table, Hornets are going to be better, but not good enough. MIA is up in the air, NYK are up in the air. BK is getting their big man back, but older with a new coach, IND is most likely losing Lance and trading Hibbert for pieces.
So, unless Melo comes to South Beach, I’m giving the crown to SAS next season…
I’m in a weird space if LBJ goes to CLE. I’m a fan of his, I cheer for him, but I got NO love or interest in CLE. He won’t be dead to me, but damn close to it.
And poor Wade…MIA would become a lotto team if this happens, Bosh will leave and Wade is still a part time player.
This will all setup the West to win the next 3 championships no doubt…none of the East teams with just ‘one’ star can stand up to the West.
LBJ going to CLE [and potentially winning a championship] would be a great story, but I don’t know he if wants to go back to Dan Gilbert after that letter.
It’s like breaking up with a girl, and she flips out. Then a couple weeks later, she wants you back. It’s like…man, that bitch crazy.
In any case, LBJ make a decision soon, so we can see some dominoes fall.
But the worst part of it is, no one should believe that even with LBJ, CLE is title worthy. This team is too smushy in the middle, too ‘feeling itself’ at the guard spot, both backed by a new coach and new management.
Everyone keeps saying “Well ugh if Melo wants to win he should go to Chicago”, well dammit if we play that game, then if LBJ wants to win, he shouldn’t be in CLE, he’ll just leave again when the contract is up…
the only way the east win a title is if lebron + melo join up, along with another player at least of deandre jordan’s status (very good player just not superstar level yet)
I agree. I just looked at CLE’s roster as constructed and it doesn’t scream “contender!” right away. It may be one of those teams in a year where they are “one piece away.”
In any case, who knows how this team and others will look after these dominoes fall.
Gave up all that money too and just watch his teammates go somewhere else for max money(if that happens). I agree what you said about Cleveland. What does that team know about winning? Management is so dysfunctional and there’s stories of locker room problems. On top of that they just got a new coach. LBJ needs to think about that before committing his prime years to that team. It could work out in the end, but I just don’t see it now.
The only way CLE is worth entertaining as contender is if they move Wiggins AND Waiters, land KLove (wiggins), maybe pick-up Ryan Anderson (Waiters), and find a cheap replacement for who they just traded - like NAte Robinson doesn’t have to be him, I know Jamal Crawford is floating a little bit - just someone who can come up with points when needed. I don’t know how much I trust Tristan/Varejo combo either.
I just realized that to make them contenders I’d damn near trade the whole team. I don’t even like Kyrie there.
*I would think less of Lebron if he went back to the Cavs to be honest. The reason why I started to respect is because he went to the Heat. Of course back then I thought he would defer to Wade instead of the other way around, but it still showed that he wanted to win by any means necessary. I respected the hell out of that, and still do.
If he goes back to the Cavs it’ll scream of “peer pressure” to me. There’s no good basketball reasons for him to go back to that team. Roster? No. Money? No. Championship potential? Low. Ownership and franchise? LOL. If he goes back there it’ll be because of people around him prodding him to go for sentimental reasons and for him to look better in the media. The only Clevland team he should consider playing for this year is the Browns, since Josh Gordon can’t seem to stay out of fucking trouble.
Otherwise he should just wait until he retires and then move back to Ohio if he wants. He can build and/or expand on his businesses there and even become a minority owner for one of Clevlands other personal sports teams. *
He doesn’t need to wait until he retires to move back to Ohio. He still has a house there. And what people fail to realize, is that his sons are going to be attending school there next semester because he wants to them to go to St Vincent St Mary’s like he did. As a result, his wife will be in Ohio living with them.
So these reporters can come up with a ton of stupid baseless reasons for why he would go back, but the only real reason is that his family will be there.
